Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
The form of this poem is derived from the seafarers’ ballad “In Lowestoft there lived a maid,” singing the praises of a young lady who, as they used to say, was “no better than she should be”.
IN LOWESTOFT a boat was laid
Mark well what I do say
And she was built for the herring trade
But she has gone a-rovin’, a-rovin’, a-rovin’,
The Lord knows where !
They gave her Government coal to burn,
And a Q.F. gun at bow and stern,
And sent her out a-rovin’, a-rovin’, a-rovin’,
The Lord knows where !
Her skipper was mate of a bucko ship
Which always killed one man per trip,
So he is used to rovin’, a-rovin’, a-rovin’,
The Lord knows where !
Her mate was skipper of a chapel in Wales,
And so he fights in topper and tails -
Religious tho’ rovin’, a-rovin’, a-rovin’,
The Lord knows where !
Her engineer is fifty-eight,
So he’s prepared to meet his fate,
Which ain’t unlikely rovin’, a-rovin’, a-rovin’,
The Lord knows where !
Her leading stoker’s seventeen,
So he don’t know what the Judgements mean,
Unless he cops them rovin’, a-rovin’, a-rovin’,
The Lord knows where !
Her chef was cook in the Lost Dogs’ Home,
Mark well what I do say
And I’m sorry for Fritz when they all come
A-rovin’, a-rovin’, a-roarin’ and a-rovin’,
Round the North Sea rovin’,
The Lord knows where !